FYI: Call: Volume on L2 Development, Lang Program Admin

Author:	Cristina Sanz
Linguistic Field(s):	Applied Linguistics Discipline of Linguistics
FYI Body:	Call for Contributions AAUSC 2013 Annual Volume Individual Differences, L2 Development & Language Program Administration: From Theory to Application Editors Cristina Sanz, Georgetown University (sanzc@georgetown.edu) Beatriz Lado, Lehman College, CUNY (beatrizlado@lehman.cuny.edu) Series Editor Stacey Katz Bourns, Harvard University (katzbourns@fas.harvard.edu) The democratization of schooling and greater access to higher education, together with the implementation of language requirements in colleges and universities across the United States, have led to a higher degree of diversity in language classrooms. We usually think of gender, ethnic, racial, or social diversity, but individual differences, including learning disabilities and special needs, also contribute to diversity and have an impact on assessment, placement, and curriculum. In their role as administrators and teacher educators, Language Program Directors (LPDs) seek to integrate current practices and research in applied linguistics into program design and administration, including assessment. To make individual differences a theoretically grounded integral component of their decision-making processes, LPDs need resources that provide them with cutting-edge primary and secondary research on the conceptualization, measurement, and consequences of individual differences on language development in the classroom. This volume will provide LPDs with the means to transmit information to their instructors in effective ways so that the instructors develop a sophisticated understanding of individual differences, including learning disabilities, special needs, and strategies for dealing with diverse student populations. In addition, this volume will create a forum for reflections about and solutions to challenges related to diversity as it relates to individual differences. We will divide the volume into three sections: i. Constructs and measurements of individual differences. For example, for aptitude, and in terms of constructs and definitions, we are interested in how current models of working memory have replaced the broader construct of aptitude that was common in the 1980s and how they relate to L2 development. Suggestions for Possible Chapters - Critical assessment of current views of individual differences as they relate to adult L2 learning; - Critical reviews of measures of individual differences for language learning; - Current tests to screen students for learning disabilities, especially those that affect language learning or use, as implemented by university Academic Resource Centers: Are they useful tools for LPDs? ii. Empirical studies (qualitative and/or quantitative, including case studies) on the role of individual differences. We are especially interested in studies that look at L2 development under various pedagogical conditions and contexts, be they traditional, on-line, hybrid, or study abroad. Suggestions for Possible Chapters - Individual differences and context of language learning: traditional classes, computer-assisted learning environments, hybrid courses, and study abroad programs; - Individual differences and pedagogical conditions: is teaching grammar explicitly equally beneficial across levels of motivation or aptitude, for example? - Interactions between aptitude and other individual differences, such as motivation, age and cognitive maturity, or learning style; - Studies on the cognitive consequences of learning a foreign language: does studying a FL enhance one’s aptitude to learn additional languages? - L2/L3 development in deaf and blind students. iii.Practical connections: Translating concepts and assessment into curricular decisions. How do LPDs address individual differences? The place of individual differences in decisions about instructor training and curricular design. Suggestions for Possible Chapters - The place of individual differences in TA education (e.g., workshops, methods courses); - Teacher and student beliefs about individual differences, with special attention to aptitude; - Differential role of individual differences in curriculum development of grammar-based, content-based, and task-based programs; - Heritage language programs and individual differences; - From bilingualism to multilingualism in language programs: the bilingual as the good language learner; - Examples of best practices: solutions to challenges posed by diversity as they relate to individual differences, including Foreign Language Learning Disability and learning impairments that affect college-level language students. For questions about the volume, please contact the volume editors at your earliest convenience at sanzc@georgetown.edu or at beatriz.lado@lehman.cuny.edu. Submission deadline for one-page abstracts is March 15, 2012, and for full manuscripts, September 1, 2012. See style sheet (APA format, 5th ed.) in recent issues of the AAUSC series, or visit http://www.apastyle.org.